Licenciamento ambiental municipal para atividades de alto potencial poluidor/degradador em Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, Brasil: desempenho procedimental, qualidade regulatória e efetividade pós- licença

Abstract

Municipal environmental licensing has been expanding in Brazil, but empirical evidence on its regulatory performance at the local scale remains limited, especially for higher-risk activities. This study evaluates municipal environmental licensing in Juazeiro do Norte, Ceará, focusing on enterprises with high pollution/degradation potential. The analytical universe comprised 32 cases. Document analysis was combined with qualitative triangulation based on an interview with a key informant and field verification records for 10 cases. Indicators of procedural performance, regulatory quality, transparency, participation, territorial integration, and post-license effectiveness were examined. Processing time showed high dispersion (median = 354 days; IQR = 530.3) and differed significantly according to the year of application (Kruskal–Wallis H = 10.997; p = 0.0117), with shorter times in 2024. The adequacy between the required study and the pollution/degradation potential (PDP) was satisfactory in all cases; however, the proportion of conditions fully meeting SMART criteria—that is, sufficiently specific and verifiable for monitoring—was only moderate (median = 31.7%) and differed among the main sectors (H = 13.666; p = 0.0084). Documentary transparency, analysis of urban compatibility, and the use of geographic information systems (GIS) were universal, whereas formal participation was rarely activated. Post-license evidence indicates field inspections in 31.3% of cases and administrative sanctions in 15.6% of the sample. The findings suggest that performance gains depend less on deregulation than on organizational capacity, digitalization, territorial integration, and monitorable conditions, with implications for municipal licensing systems in decentralized urban contexts in developing countries.